Drive transmission for garden tractors



Feb. 8, 1949. Y s R s 2,461,391

DRIVE TRANSMISSION FOR GARDEN TRAGTORS Filed Jan. 7, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet. 1

4 3.9 50 I 5/ FIG./ 4/ w 7 49 0 43 O O I 4 36 '1 I4 24 1% M :T.:'--' DIII W 30 33 32 37 I 26 i u J I B 3.9 42 /4 2:1::: 29 LHH 20 34 35 I8 '471 Inventor JOSEPH E OSTERHAUS J. F. OSTERHAUS DRIVE TRANSMISSION FORGARDEN TRAGTORS Feb. 8, 1949.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 7, 1946 FIG. 3

Inventor JOSEPH E 0STLFI'iWAIUfi'- Patented Feb. 8, 1949 DRIVETRANSMISSION FOR GARDEN 'TR'ACTORS Joseph Ellsterhau s, Independence,Iowa Application -.lanuary 7, 1946, Serial'No.'639,'512

This invention-relates to a gardentractor and more particularly to thecontrol mechanism thereof.

.The primary-object of the inventionis to facilitate the handling of agardentractor when-both plowing and cultivating with the device.

Another objectis to secure Jfinger-tip control by the'user of thetractor d sc .that the device .maybe turned on a very shortradius-without requiring the removal of the hands from the handles: of.the tractor.

The above and other objects may berattained by employing this inventionwhich embodies among its features a frame supported on a pair of groundwheels mounted 'for independent rotation, a prime mover mounted on theframe, drive means establishing driving connection between the primemover and the ground wheels and means mounted on each-handle of thetractor selectively to disengage one or the other ground wheels fromdriving connectionwith the prime mover.

Other features include means simultaneously to disengage both groundwheels-from driving connection with the prime mover.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of atractor embodying the features of thisinvention,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a front view in elevation showing portions of the devicebroken away to more clearly illustrate certain details of construction,and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the driving mechanism.

Referring to the drawings in detail a conventional garden tractordesignated generally Ill comprises a frame ll carrying the usual plowsor cultivator implements [2 at its rear end, and rising from the frameadjacent its rear end is a pair of spaced handle-bars l3 carrying attheir extreme upper ends hand-grips l4. Extending transversely of theframe I! intermediate its ends is an axle shaft 85 which comprises atubular member IS in which stub shafts H are rotatably mounted. Thesestub shafts carry at their extreme outer ends traction or ground wheelsl8 upon which the main weight of the tractor is supported. Attached tothe axle shafts ll adjacent the wheels I8 are drive sprockets l9 overwhich drive chains 23 are trained.

Extending transversely of the frame near its forward end is a jack shaftdesignated generally 2! which comprises a sleeve 22 in whichindependently rotatable shafts 23 are mounted. These independentlyrotatable shafts 23 carry 1 Claim. (Cl. 180-437) iii adjacent theirouterends 'drive pulleys Hand attached to the shafts ZS-intermediate theirends are drive sprockets 25 over'which the chains 22 run. It will'thusbe seen that driving connection is established between the-respectivewheels 24 and the ground wheels It! on opposite sides of the tractorandwhen the drive pulleys Mare rotated their respective traction wheelsl 8-wil1 be driven.

:Mounted in suitablebe'arings 26 on the frame I directlyabove :the jackshaft I21 is a main drive shaft'i'll'l carrying adjacent opposite endsdrive pulleys 23 :having driving connection with the pulleys .24 throughther'medium of endless belts 29. A drive pulley .30 is 'connecteduto theshaft :2! intermediate-it'seends and has driving connection with :adrive pulley :3! on :the main drive shaft of a suitable prime mover 3.2:which is mounted rongthe frame H directly above the axle l5 as will bereadily understoodr upon ref:

.erence" to Figure .1. In the present insta-nce, the .prime mover 532takes the form of an internal combustion engine suchas is commonlyemployed on tractors-of this character though-it is to be understoodthat any suitable motive power may be employed. The driving connectionbetween .the pulley3ll andthe drivepulley 3| of the prime mover 32 isestablished through the medium of a drive'belt 33. The drive belts'29and 33 loosely engage their respective pulleys so that no driving powerwill be transmitted to the traction wheels I8 until such time as thebelts are placed under tension. 1

In order to establish driving connection between the prime mover 32 andthe drive pulley 33 a lever 34 is pivotally supported on a bracket 35carried by the frame H and one end of this lever carries a roller 36which bears on the upper run of the belt 33. The opposite end of thelever 34 is connected by means of pull rod 31 which is pivotallyconnected as at 38 to one end of a handlever 39 which is pivoted at 40to one of the handle-bars l3 near its end grip l4. Supported on thehandle-bar I3 in concentric relation with the pivotal motion of thelever 39 is a quadrant M which is provided with laterally extendingfingers 42 which are adapted to engage the lever 39 and hold it invarious adjusted positions. It will thus be seen that upon movement ofthe lever 39 the lever arm 34 will be rotated about its pivotal mountingon the bracket 35 so as to cause the roller 36 to be moved into and outof engagement with the upper run of the Pivotally supported as at 43 oneach side of the frame II. is a lever arm 44, each of which carries aroller 45 which is adapted to engage the forward run of its respectivebelt 29. A retractile coil spring 46 is connected to eachlever and theopposite end of said spring is attached to the frame ll so as normallyto urge the rollers 45 into contact with the belt 29 and establishdriving connection between the pulleys 28 and 24. Connected to the upperfree end of each lever 44 is a pull rod 41 the rear end of which ispivotally connected asat 43 to a lever 49 which is pivoted at 50 to itsrespective handle bar l3 adjacent the grip i4 thereon. The lever 49 isprovided with a hand held 5! which extends rearwardly in spaced relationto the hand grip l4 so as to be within easy reach of the operator. Fromthe foregoing it will be seen that upon movement of the hand hold 5|toward the grip l4 pull will be exerted on the pull rod 41 so as to rockthe lever 44 about its pivot and cause the roller 45 to move against thetension of the spring 46 to-relieve the pressure on the front run of thebelt 29 and thus disengage the respective traction wheels !8 fromdriving connection with the shaft 21.

In operation it will be understood that when a turn is to be made, forinstance to the left, it is only necessary for the operator to engagethe hand hold 5| on the left hand side of the tractor and move it towardits respective grip l4, thus relieving the tension on the belt 29 on theleft side of the machine and consequently disengaging the left tractionwheel 18 from driving connection with the prime mover 32. Obviously,upon so moving the lever 49 on the opposite side of the machine, a righthand turn may be made.

In starting the device the prime mover 32 may be set into motion withthe hand lever 39 set so as to disengage the roller 36 from the upperrun of'the belt 33 and when. it is desired to apply power to thetraction wheels I8 it is only necessary to move the hand lever 39 in adirection to cause the lever 34 to move the roller 36 into belttightening positionon the belt 33.

From the foregoing it is obvious that a simple and efiicient method ofcontrolling the direction of movement of a garden tractor is thusprovided stub shaft adjacent the end remote from the tubular axle, adrive sprocket on each stub shaft adjacent the tubular axle, a tubularsupporting member extending transversely above the frame, a stub shaftmounted to rotate in each end of r the supporting member, a drivesprocket on each stub shaft adjacent the supporting member havingdriving connection with the drive sprocket of the traction wheel on itsrespective side of the frame, a drive pulley on the end of each secondmentioned stub shaft remote from the tubular supporting member, a maindrive shaft extending transversely of the frame above the tubularsupport, a main drive pulley on said main drive shaft intermediate theends thereof, a drive pulley on each end of the drive shaft, beltsestablishing driving connection between the drive pulley on the primemover and the main drive pulley and manually controlled belt tightenersselectively to tighten'the belts whereby one or the so other tractionwheel may be stopped or driven or both traction wheels may be stopped ordriven in unison.

JOSEPH F. OS'I'ERHAUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,153,800 Larkins et al Sept. 14,1915 1,387,279 Luger Aug. 9, 1921 1,458,963 Aultman June 19, 1923 r1,527,595 McComb Feb. 24, 1925 2,001,048 Ziegler May 14, 1935 2,015,587Bready Sept. 24, 1935 2,133,512 Herge Oct. 18, 1938 2,329,372 HitchSept. 14, 1948

